Feed out mechanism for telegraph printers



Sept. 29', 1959 R. H. KLICH ET AL FEED OUT MECHANISM FOR TELEGRAPH PRINTERS Filed Aug. 25, 1954 FIG. I

INVENTORS ROGER H. KLICH ERWIN J. WENNINGER W m- TTORNEY FIG. 2

United States Patent FEED OUT MECHANISM FOR TELEGRAPH PRINTERS Roger H. Klich and Erwin J. Wenninger, Chicago, l ll., assignors to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, Ill., :1 corporation of Delaware Application August 25, 1954, Serial'No. 452,088

' 11 Claims. 01.11845 The present invention relates to teletypewriter apparatus of the page printing type and more particularly to automatic feed-out mechanisms therefor.

It is desirable in the telegraphic printing field to provide a means for automatically advancing a page or record being printed to a predetermined point. This feature is helpful for feeding a form or page out of the apparatus at the conclusion of a message and for. spacing messages on a continuous roll. In the past, this has been accomplished by counting the number of line feed function signals transmitted during a message and transmitting the required number of additional line feed signals to actuate the platen and advance the record to the desired position. This is an inaccurate and laborious methodwhich ties up the transmitting lines and the time of the operator.

The principal object of this invention is to position a form out of the apparatus to receive a message and feed the form at the end of the. message to a predetermined length in response to a simple, single operation by the operator.

Another object is to provide a positive counting means for controlling the vertical movement of paper on the printing platen. I

A further object is to provide a means for suppressing transmission during the operation of the feed-outmechanism. 1

Yet another object is to providea means to adjust the feed-out mechanism to accommodate any of a multitude of different size forms. I q

A still further object is to provide an indicating means tov enable the operator to readily ascertain the amount of advancement of the platen.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will appear as the description progresses.

This invention is intended to be used with teletypewriter apparatus'such as is disclosed in the patent issued to W. I. Zenner, No. 2,505,729,. issued April 25, 1950, therefore, complete descriptions of the elemental subassemblies of the printer which are not necessary to an understanding of the present invention are eliminated for the sake of clarity. While only so much 'of the assembly as is necessary for a complete understanding of the in vention is incorporated herein, the disclosure of the aforementioned Zenner patent is incorporated herein by reference and made a part of this specification as if fully set forth herein.

A more detailed description of the line feed mechanism referred to herein may be found in United States Patent No. 2,667,256, issued to B. F. Madsen on January 26, 1954, and copending application Serial No. 392,169, filed November 16, 1953' by B. F. Madsen, now United States Fatent No. 2,701,823.

. It is, of course, understood that while the onlyv indicia shown on the counting gear is the starting mark, any form ofindiciamay be included such as number of line spaces orinches or whatever unit of measurement may be desired.

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the feed-out'devic'e associated with the conventional line feed mechanism, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a blocking arm assembly and associated parts for controlling the transmission of signals.

Having reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like elements, the form feedout mechanism comprises a removable counting gear or instrumentality 11 having a starting mark or indicating line 12 scribed on'it, and having a'cam blade 15 held in place on it by means of a screw 1-4. A hand wheel 16 is also attached to the counting wheel for convenience in positioning the counting wheel as will be'pointed out later. A pointer 18 is attached to the printing unit abbve the counting wheel and serves as a guide for setting the form feed-out mechanism at its starting position. Keyed to the platen shaft 17 for rotation'with it, is a gear 19 and enmeshed between the counting gear 11 and the platen gear 19 are two idler gears 20 and 2lforming a positive motion gear train between theplaten and the counting gear 11. With the above described gear train, movement of the platen will 'be transmitted as a proportional increment to the counting gear.

A blade 22 is adjustably mounted on an arm 24 of a 25 pivoted interponent member 25, said member being pivoted at 26. A blocking lever assembly 27 is pivotally mounted on a pin 39, and has a tab portion 30 with a pin 31 rigidly attached thereto. The pin 31 is extended through a'slot in the pivoted member 25 and is urged toward the right, in Fig. 1, by a spring 36 so that the pivoted arm is urged to rotate counterclockwise and the blocking lever assembly 27 is urged to rotate in a clockwise direction.

One arm 34 of the blocking lever assembly 27 is positioned, or arranged so as to rest, during normal operation .of the printingunit, on the upper surface of the lateral extension of a .T-shaped interponent 35. The'elevated position of the arm 34 with its extremity resting on the interponent 35 causes the blocking lever assembly 27 to be pivoted, against the urging of the spring 36, counter clockwise. A second arm 38 of. the blocking lever assembly is rotated counterclockwise about the assembly pivot.3 9- and presses on a switch button 40 ina microswitch 41 andthereby closes the start magnet circuit of the transmitter: so that intelligence can 'be transmitted.

A line-f eed clutch trip off member 42 is positio'ned'between the T-shapedinterponent 35 and a'line feed clutch latch lever 44, said latch being pivoted about the pin 45 and urged to rotate in a counterclockwise direction by a spring 46. The upper end of the latch lever 44- is engaged by the trip off member 42'while the lower end is engaged by one of the projections 48 on the line feed clutch 49.

. A set of code bars, indicated generally by the numeral 55, is suitably mounted within the printer, which code bars are comparable to code bars 62 to 70 of said Patent No. 2,505,729. A plurality of function bars 56 are suit ably mounted in the apparatus with respect to the code bars 55', and are urged rightwardly towards the code bars 55 by means of individual springs 57. Each function bar 56 is provided with code projections 58 which cooperate in well known manner with code notches in each of the code bars 55. Cooperably related to each function bar 56; in a manner disclosed in said copendin'g application, area-f-unction pawl 59 and a function operating lever 50.

When the'operator' selects the line feed function; the function operating lever 50" is operated, in the manner disclosed in 'said copending application, to move against the line feed clutch trip ofi member 42 causing the trip 01f lever 44 to move clockwise about its pivot'45, there-' 'by'm'ovingthe lower'end out of; the path o fthe projection 48'(similar to th'eprbjection' 87 of'Patent No. 2,701,823

on'the line feed clutch" 49' long enough for the clutch'to rotate a portion of a revolution and thereby advance the platen one unit through the mechanism fully described m the Madsen patent, a pair of gears 88 and 89 on a power shaft 90 and a cam shaft 91 being arranged to operate in the same manner as-the like numbered gears of Patent No. 2,701,823. The gears 88 and 89, when rotated, will actuate a pair of rack members 68 and 69 in the same manner as the similarly numbered rack members of Patent No. 2,701,823 in the manner described in said patent.

The line feed function bar (which is one of the bars 56) is not, of course, selected at the same time as the form feed-out function bar. Hence, the function operating lever 50 associated with the line feed function bar and the function operating lever60 associated with the feed-out function bar are actuated in response to their respective code signals. 1

' In the operation of the form feed-out mechanism, the operator first inserts the form in the printer and positions the platen to a prearranged starting point onthe form. The counting gear 11 is selected so as to correspond with the size of form tobe used and is slidably fastened to shaft 51 by means of nut 52, said counting gear being urged toward the mounting frame-and thereby in mesh with the idler gear 20 by a sleeve spring (not shown) on shaft 51. When the counting gear 11 is in place and the cam blade 15 attached for full form feed out, the operator disengages the counting gear 11 from the idler gear by pulling out against the sleeve spring and positions the counting wheel with the starting point indicator 12 directly under the pointer 18 (for shorter forms, or a cam blade may be attached at one or more of a plurality of mounting positions 13 only two shown, the number and position being dependent upon the amount of automatic advance desired). As was described above, the arm 34 of the blocking lever assembly is riding on the lateral extension of the T-shaped interponent 35 thereby acting through thedescribed linkage to hold the blade 22 out of the path of the cam blade 15. As the platen is rotated, the motion is transmitted from the platen gear 19 through the idler gears 20 and 21' to the counting gear so as to advance the cam blade 15 clockwise in increments proportional to the platen rotation as the counting wheel is rotated. When the form feed-out function bar-is selected the form feed-out function operating lever 60 moves against the interponent 35 and moves it to the right in Figs. 1 and 2. As the interponent 35 moves to the right, the line feed clutch trip of]? member 42 is moved to the rightthreby, and the line feed clutch latch lever 44 is rotated clockwise thereby releasing the line feed clutch 49. The blocking lever assembly 27 is allowed to rotate, in response to the spring 36, in a clockwise direction about pivot 39 so that the arm 34 blocks the return of the interponent 35 thus holding the line feed clutch latch 44 in a releasing position. At' the same time, the arm 38 is rotated away from the switch button 40 of the microswitch 41 so as to interrupt the transmission of a signal during the form feed out operation. 'As the blocking lever assembly 27 rotates clockwise, the pivoted interponent lever 2425 is rotated counterclockwise about its pivot 26, and the blade 22 thereof is moved into the path of the cam blade 15. As the platen is advanced by means of the line feed mechanism, which is operating continuously because of the above-described blocking action, the cam blade 15 advances toward the blade 22. When the selected starting point of the succeeding form is reached on the platen, the camblade 15 will havemoved against the blade 22. The cam blade 15 rotates the pivoted member 24-25 in a clockwise direction, which in turn rotates the blocking lever assembly 27 ina counterclockwise direction and unblocks the lateralextension of the interponent 35 and closes the signal line switch 41. The line feed clutch latch 44 is then allowed to be rotated counterclockwise by itsspring-46 so as to once more latch the line feed clutch and to move the lateral extension of the;

interponent 35 under the blocking lever arm 34 and thereby return the printer to its normal receiving position.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangement of apparatus and construction of elemental parts are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention and many other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a line feed mechanism, a record advancing device including a platen and comprising a driving means, a line feed clutch operable to transmit motion from said driving means to the'record advancing device, a spring loaded latch held in a latching position, a movable member adapted to move said latch out of the latching position, a blocking member adapted to selectively block the return of the latch, and platen controlled means for rendering said blocking means ineffective.

2. A form feed-out device for printing telegraph apparatus comprising a platen, a gear means operable by the rotation of said platen, a counting means operable by said gear means, a platen advancing means, a power means for driving said platen advancing means, a latch clutch for selectively engaging said power means with said advancing means, a first signal activated latching means for operating said clutch to advance said platen one line, a second signal activated latching means for holding said clutch engaged, means for releasing the means for holding the clutch engaged in response to a predetermined amount of rotation of said counting means, and means conditioned by the activation of said second signal activated latching means to render said releasing means operative.

3. In combination with a recorder, a platen, a gear associated with said platen, a pair of rack members cooperable with said gear, a counting gear driven by said platen gear, an eccentric means for actuating said rack members for imparting rotation to said platen, a power means for operating said eccentric means, a clutch means for engaging said eccentric means with said power means and means actuated by said counting gear for operating said clutch to disengage said eccentric means from said power means.

4. In a recorder, a shaft, a platen fixed to said shaft, a platen gear fixed to said shaft, a rack means engaged with said platen gear for rotating said platen, a power means for driving said rack means, means for engaging said rack means with said power means and means controlled by the rotation of said platen for disengaging said power means from said rack means whereby the platen is automatically stopped after a predetermined amount of rotation.

5. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a rotatable platen, means selectable as a function of said apparatus for driving said platen through a predetermined increment of rotation, and means for automatically advancing said platen a variable amount to a predetermined point comprising means for causing said driving means to drive said platen, mechanical latching means for latching said driving means in position to drive said platen, and a tripping means conditioned by the actuation of said latching means from moving said driving means out of the position where it drives the platen in response to the advance of said platen to said predetermined point.

6. In a printing telegraph apparatus having a platen, and means selectable as a function of said apparatus for driving said platen, adjustable means driven by said platen for indicating the number of increments of movement that have been imparted to said platen, a line feed clutch operable to drive said platen, a mechanical latching means for holding said clutch in operated position,

- and ans nditioned by the actuation of said latching means for moving said clutch from its operated position in response to a predetermined number of incremental movements of said means driven by the platen.

7. In a typing apparatus, a platen, a platen advancing means, a driving means for driving said platen advancing means, a line feed clutch for connecting said driving means to said platen advancing means, a line feed clutch latch for normally holding the clutch inoperative, an adjustable indicating gear driven by the platen, a cam blade attached to the indicating gear, a pivotally mounted interponent having a cam surface on one extremity positioned to be rotated by the cam blade on the indicating gear, and a blocking arm assembly pivotally mounted in the path of the clutch latch and positioned to be rotated out of said path by the interponent.

8. In a printing telegraph apparatus having a platen, a platen advancing means, driving means for said platen advancing means, a clutch operable to selectively transmit motion from the driving means to the platen advancing means, a spring loaded clutch latch normally holding said clutch in operative position, a selectively operable function bar, and an interponent cooperable with the function bar to release the clutch latch, the combination of a device for advancing the platen to a predetermined point comprising a counting gear, a plurality of gears rotatable with the platen, and so constructed and positioned as to impart a movement to the counting gear proportional to that of the platen, a cam blade attached to the counting gear, a pivotally mounted interponent having a cam surface on one extremity positioned to be rotated by the cam blade, a start magnet circuit having a microswitch there in, a two extension blocking ar-m assembly pivotally mounted for actuation by the pivoted interponent, and a spring for urging the blocking arm to block the return of the clutch latch and open the microswitch, whereby when the pivoted interponent is rotated by the cam blade, the blocking arm will release the clutch latch and close the microswitch.

9. In combination with an automatic platen advancing device, means for selecting the amount of automatic advance comprising a counting gear mounted for rotation in the apparatus, a train of gears interconnecting the platen and counting gear to rotate said counting gear an amount proportional to the amount of advance of the platen, a

plurality of cam blades selectively attachable to the perimeter of the counting gear, driving means for operating the advancing device, and clutch means positioned to be activated by the cam blades for disengaging said driving means from said advancing device.

10. In a printing apparatus having a platen for advancing forms through the apparatus, power means for rotating said platen, means for disengaging said power means from driving relation with said platen, and a first selectable means operable in response to the receipt in said apparatus of a line feed signal to connect said power means in driving relation to said platen sufficiently to bring the next successive line on a form into printing position, a device for facilitating the printing on forms of uniform length comprising a second selectable means operable in response to the receipt in said apparatus of a form feed signal for connecting said power means in driving relation to said platen, a counting instrumentality driven in synchronisrn with said platen, and means associated with said counting instrumentality and effective under control of said second selectable means for governing the amount of rotation of said platen, whereby said platen is rotated sufilciently to bring the first line of the next succeeding form into position.

11. In a printing apparatus having a rotatable platen for advancing a sheet through the apparatus and means for imparting step-by-step rotation to said platen, the combination of a platen position indicating device comprising a stationary pointer, a counting gear having a starting point indicating mark on it for association with said pointer, a gear driven by said platen, and a shaft arranged to slidably support the counting gear for movement into mesh with said gear driven by the platen.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,273,081 Zenner Feb. 17, 1942 2,492,408 Willcox Dec. 27, 1949 2,571,182 Baldwin Oct. 16, 1951 2,692,911 Lang Oct. 26, 1954 2,701,823 Madsen Feb. 8, 1955 

